Best Credit Cards to Take to the World Series

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If you’re headed to the MLB playoffs or a World Series game, you’ll want to be prepared. Along with your lucky baseball cap and T-shirts in your favorite team’s colors, you should pack the best credit card for the trip. Here are a few of our favorite credit cards with rewards that really knock it out of the park.

Best for the laidback traveler: Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard®

If you’re hopping on a plane to cheer on your favorite team, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® is the best choice for straightforward rewards and redemption. It offers 2 miles on every $1 spent, which can be redeemed for statement credit on travel purchases, like hotels and flights. Then, when you redeem, you’ll get 5% of those miles back.

You can book directly through the website of your airline of choice, or through budget-friendly sites like Travelocity. The Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® has a killer sign-up bonus: Enjoy 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days — that's enough to redeem for a $400 travel statement credit toward an eligible travel purchase. That’s a lot of miles to use for next year’s games.

Best for the travel hacker: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

If you like to dig to find the very best deals on your flights, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card should be your card on game day. It offers 2X points on dining and travel and 1 point on everything else. You’ll receive a 20% discount if you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards, but you can also put your travel hacking skills to good use by transferring points to various airline and hotel programs:

Airlines:

British Airways

Korean Airlines

Southwest

United

Virgin Atlantic

Singapore KrisFlyer

Hotels

Hyatt

IHG

Marriott

Ritz-Carlton

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an amazing sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. It also offers an additional 5,000 points when you add an authorized user and they make a purchase in the first three months. Sounds like a good start to pay for your upcoming trips to see all the Major League Baseball stadiums in the country. Or, you know, travel anywhere for any reason.

Best for the short distance traveler: Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

If you’re roadtripping to the game, you’ll want a great gas card to get you there. The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express offers an 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations. It also gives 6% cash back on U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 in spending, then 1%), 3% back at select U.S. department stores and 1% back on everything else. So it’s a great card for your daily expenses as well.

The Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express has a sign-up bonus: $200 statement credit after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 3 months. Terms Apply. It has an annual fee of $95.

If you really don’t want to pay an annual fee, you can opt for the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express instead. It offers 3% back on U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 in spending, then 1%), 2% back at U.S. gas stations and select U.S. department stores, and 1% back on everything else. It also has a sign-up bonus: $150 statement credit after you spend $1,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 3 months. Terms Apply.

Best for the tourist fan: Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card

If you want to be rewarded for exploring a new city before and after the game, the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card may be the card for you. It offers 2 ThankYou points on every dollar spent on dining and entertainment and 1 ThankYou point for everything else. This is a great option for the out-of-towner spending a lot on dining and entertainment.

ThankYou points are redeemable for merchandise, travel, gift cards and cash/cash equivalents. For maximum value, redeem for gift cards or cash equivalents — like mortgage payments or student loan rebates. This will free up more of your cash to spend on noisemakers and bobbleheads of your favorite players.

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